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I made this for
myself recently with
pickling spices from
Kalustyan's in New
York City (24
grams), 12 grams of
salt (plus two
pinches after
chilling), juice of
one small-to-medium
lemon (plus lemon to
taste after
chilling) and one
teaspoon of pepper
flakes. The octopus
used was one pound
of baby
octopus from
Portugal, perhaps
Spain (presumably
frozen). After
preparing, I placed
it in a ceramic bowl
and covered with
cling wrap and
refrigerated
overnight, eating as
a cold salad the
next day.
First off, this
would go great with
an albarino or other
sharp white wine.
Second, it's got a
kick, but the kick
will depend as much
a anything by the
pickling spice you
use. Kalustyan's
lists the
ingrediants as
cinnamon chips,
yellow mustard seed,
dill seed, brown
mustard seed, all
spice, clove, mace,
coriander,
peppercorn, bay
leaf, cardamom
(note: seeds, not
pods), red chili
(note: mine had a
whole chili, but
there may also have
been some crushed
chili in there) and
dry ginger. You can
understand why I
wasn't about to make
this myself, even
though I had many of
the ingredient
spices already.
There was a
dominating flavor of
clove, along with
the underlying zing
of the pepper; I
suspect a different
pickling mix,
Penzeys say, would
have had a different
effect.
Regardless, this is
a dish that cries
out to be served
with something: a
cold couscous,
perhaps, I even
thought of melon
(Japanese melon ...
not too sweet, but a
good crunch, came to
mind).
Fundamentally, this
wasn't a bad dish,
I'm just not sure it
met my expectations.
I will certainly
try it again,
however. And with
an accompaniment
next time.